KeyMap -- Less Than Zero

Reviewed by Richard Busch

Ordinarily, I would simply throw a product like KeyMap in
the trash and be done with it. Unfortunately, I would be
performing a disservice by not warning others about this
exceptionally bad computer program. In fact, calling KeyMap
"bad" denigrates those products which truly deserve that honor.
KeyMap transcends "bad." KeyMap is, in reality, a dangerous
product -- one whose use could jeopardize your safety and
possibly even endanger your life. It is for that reason, despite
my general editorial policy of only publishing "favorable"
reviews, that we review KeyMap now.

KeyMap, a program written by SoftKey International for
IBM PC-compatible computers, purports to be an intelligent
road atlas of the United States. Conceptually, KeyMap could be
a very useful product for planning collecting trips to the field.
Properly executed, an intelligent road atlas would be an
invaluable tool to aid collectors getting into collecting sites.
However, in my opinion, about all KeyMap is good for is
getting collectors into trouble. How bad is KeyMap really? I
could find no redeeming value either in the product or in the
company which fails to stand behind it.

KeyMap actually comes in pieces. There is KeyMap itself,
which contains an overall map of the United States, and there
are a hundred or so separately sold CityMaps, each of which
contains a detailed atlas for a selected geographic area within
the U.S. To use a CityMap requires the purchase and
installation of KeyMap on your computer. For the purposes of
this review, KeyMap and the CityMap for San Diego and
Imperial Counties, California, were evaluated. My testing was
not especially demanding: I asked KeyMap to find the street on
which I live; I asked KeyMap to display a map of eastern Imperial
County; and I asked KeyMap to generate a set of optimal driving
instructions from Fallbrook to Palo Verde, Imperial County,
California.

In one way or another KeyMap failed at all of these tasks.
Below is a partial list and description of KeyMap's numerous
deficiencies.

KeyMap is incomplete -- The
first thing I did after installing KeyMap and the San
Diego/Imperial County CityMap was to ask the program to
locate and display the street upon which I live -- Weatherwood
Terrace. This should have been a trivial task; however, despite
the claims printed on the front of the CityMap box, "Never
Lost, Always Found. On Any Street in America!," KeyMap
could not locate my street. Even when I zoomed the displayed
map to the local area where I live, KeyMap still could not find
it. Never lost, always found? With KeyMap failing to perform
the first query posed to it, I could only imagine the other
omissions in its database. In my subsequent experimentation,
KeyMap failed to find between 5 and 10 percent of the streets
I asked it to locate. Additionally, there appears to be no
CityMap which covers eastern Riverside County. "On Any
Street in America?" Hardly.

KeyMap is inaccurate --
Following the program's failure to find the street upon which
I live, I asked KeyMap to locate the nearest cross street --
Scripps Trail. The program found it, but told me that the street
was "undrivable." I regarded this as interesting information
since I have driven on Scripps Trail nearly every day for the
past four years. As bad as this inaccuracy seems, it pales in
comparison against some of the other geographic errors and
omissions in KeyMap. For example, I asked KeyMap to draw
the area around the town of Palo Verde, located in
northeastern Imperial County. The map below, and to the left,
shows what the program produced (the map to the right shows a
more realistic representation of the area). But, hold on
. . . It gets worse.

KeyMap

Reality

KeyMap generates bad driving
directions -- The front of the KeyMap box states,
"Find any location in the United States, choose your route,
print a detailed map, and never get lost again." I can virtually
guarantee that if you rely on KeyMap to give you directions,
you are almost certain to get lost -- and possibly stranded -- if
you don't get arrested first.

Given a starting location and a destination point on its map,
KeyMap generates a set of driving instructions to get you there
via the "shortest" route. To be sure, finding the shortest path in
a network of connections is a difficult problem to solve in the
general case. (Part of the difficulty arises from the fact that you
may have to drive away from your destination
at times in order to follow the shortest route.) True to its
overall nature, KeyMap solves this problem -- badly.

The method that KeyMap uses in its attempt to find the
shortest route between two locations is one of simply poking
and probing along a set of possible routes and choosing the
shortest one it finds. This, of course, takes time; so the program
permits you to specify the amount of probing you are willing to
endure by means of a parameter termed "IQ." The implication
is that "IQ" controls some sort of intelligence within KeyMap.
As one who is familiar with the program, I can assure you that
intelligence and the "IQ" parameter have nothing to do with
each other.

To illustrate this, I asked KeyMap to determine the shortest
driving route between our Mineral Museum in Fallbrook and
the aforementioned town of Palo Verde. With "IQ" set to its
default value, KeyMap generated a route which measured 203.4
miles. Changing "IQ" to its maximum value, I asked the
program to find the shortest route again. After computing its
little heart out for what seemed like an eternity, KeyMap
proudly displayed an "improved" route which measured 208.0
miles -- nearly five miles longer than the "dumber" route. So
much for intelligence. It gets worse . . .

KeyMap creates phantom
intersections -- When I examined the actual
driving directions provided by KeyMap for the route between
Fallbrook and Palo Verde, I found some truly amazing stuff.
Among the 85(!) separate turning directions was this: "Go
southeast on I-15; turn east onto Stewart Canyon Road."
KeyMap has to earn some points for creativity here. I-15 passes
over Stewart Canyon Road. There is no
intersection. So take a tow truck and some bail money along
with your set of KeyMap directions.

KeyMap ignores topography and road
condition -- Instead of plotting a reasonably
direct track of State and Interstate highways in its route from
Fallbrook to Palo Verde, KeyMap instructs the hapless driver
to take a road to the top of Palomar Mountain, go down the
other side, and then navigate a maze of unpaved, and in some
cases unnamed, desert roads to reach the destination. Other
examples exist; PC Magazine once printed
a list of KeyMap directions which included instructions to drive
on a sidewalk! Amazing, but believe it or not, it gets worse.

KeyMap provides dangerous driving
directions -- Here's where it gets serious. Partway
through the set of directions from Fallbrook to Palo Verde,
KeyMap instructs the driver to follow an unnamed road for a
distance of 21.23 miles. Comparing KeyMap's directions to a
printed map of the area reveals that, for this particular leg of
the journey, KeyMap has routed the driver diagonally through
the center of the Chocolate Mountain Impact Area -- an aerial
bombing range in active use by the U.S. military. No joke.

Admittedly, KeyMap's printed directions include the
admonishment, "KeyMap's suggested directions may not be
applicable for all routing requirements." I would suggest a
rewording: "KeyMap's suggested directions are worthless at best
and dangerous at worst."

KeyMap's manufacturer fails to stand behind
their product -- I telephoned SoftKey
International to report the deficiencies outlined above (and
others) and was abruptly told that KeyMap was not warranteed
to be correct! Further, SoftKey had no plans to fix any of the
problems I encountered. When I asked to return KeyMap for
a refund, I was informed that SoftKey does not refund
purchases -- even when the product fails to perform to the
claims printed on the front of the box.

So there you have it: KeyMap -- Clearly deficient in every
way. My recommendation: Join the AAA; their maps are
detailed and accurate. KeyMap's rightful place is with the rest
of the garbage.

The preceding article was originally published in the June 1995
issue of Lithosphere, the official bulletin of the
Fallbrook [California] Gem and Mineral Society, Inc; Richard Busch
(Editor).

Permission to reproduce and distribute this material, in
whole or in part, for non-commercial purposes, is hereby granted
provided the sense or meaning of the material is not changed and
the author's notice of copyright is retained.